Organizers of the 2004 International Manufacturing Technology Show are calling the event a resounding success and are already planning the 2006 show.

“Everything went exactly the way it was supposed to,” says AMT representative Lucy Coburn. “It was a big success.”

A total of 86,232 people registered for the 2004 show, up slightly from 2002, when 85,071 registered. Both figures are significantly lower than 2000’s IMTS, when 114,675 registrations were tallied. The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, along with a the slumping economy and generally smaller travel budgets are at least partially to blame for the smaller attendance figures, Coburn suspects.

Two new additions to the show this year—the Emerging Technology Center and the Junkyard Wars exhibit—were big hits, Coburn says. She’s not sure whether they will return for the 2006 show, but she says there has been interest about it.

“They were a big hit. People really seemed to like them,” she says. “They were both really interesting.”

Preparations are already underway for the 2006 IMTS, which will be held Sept. 6-13 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

For more information, visit www.imts.com.

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